LING 200 Study Guide - Quiz Guide: Tacit Knowledge, Universal Grammar, English Phonology
Document Summary
The study of language otherwise known as linguistics is ever changing with new discoveries and theories that arise each decade and many current theories are being questioned, revised and rebutted. However, through the analysis of many different aspects of language, linguists have agreed that human languages are complex, rule-governed systems that embody an innate human capacity for language. Within human language there are two categories of rules that fall into place: prescriptive and descriptive. Prescriptive rules are rules that align with how a language should be spoken or ought to be spoken. Going to the doctor, or example, he prescribes you how you should and shouldn"t take medication. With language, prescriptive rules are rules that govern how language should and shouldn"t be spoken. But a key point is that not necessarily everyone follows these rules. These two categories of rules display that our language does have a system for the way in which it is produced.
